Church Volunteer Fires Warning Shot at Man in Nashville
On Saturday night at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Nashville, volunteers were assisting with traffic for an evening mass. They noticed a man walking his dog westbound on Sunrise Avenue toward Nolensville Pike. As he passed, the man began yelling obscenities at the volunteers. While still in the roadway, the man removed a holstered pistol. In response, one of the volunteers drew his firearm. The man walking his dog then fired a shot into the ground. The volunteer discharged a round into the pavement, causing the man to flee.
The man is believed to live in the immediate area and has been seen walking on prior evenings. His motive for confronting the volunteers in the church parking lot remains unclear.
I encourage everyone to watch the video breakdown of this incident that I posted over on YouTube (the link is below). With that said, NEVER fire a warning shot. If you thought a warning shot was something you would ever do, please get it out of your head. Warning shots went away in the 1970’s. Here, the volunteer fired his warning shot into the pavement. Where did that round go? What if it hit someone else like a child? You can’t account for your rounds with warning shots and you need to account for EVERY round you fire in a situation like this.
The minute that man displayed his handgun, you need to decide if your life or the life of others is at risk. He isn’t pulling it out for show and tell. He was aggressive from the get go and is now displaying it in a threatening manner. The suspect even escalates the situation by firing a round into the ground when the volunteer pulls out his gun to defend himself. He didn’t do that for any other reason than to escalate an already potentially deadly situation. You are not a mind reader and if you try to justify that he is only bluffing, you stand the chance of getting killed. Will you shoot him after he shoots you? Because, right now, this is just a tit for tat response and you will be on the losing end of this tit for tat escalation.
I hope you watch the video as I break down things you can and can’t do in situations like this.
I agree! He was aggressive and in the end it is either him or you. Sadly this is the world we live in. God help us and come soon!
I may be a little "old school" here, but I do not agree totally with your assumption that a warning shot is "never" an acceptable option. I am a retired thirty-four year officer to police lieutenant from a major department. Approximately 80% of my on duty time was as a watch commander over the night watch with 35-50 officers , plus sergeants and civilians. I am not one who says never say never when it comes to waring shots. Back in the early day, warning shots were not that uncommon for street officers in some situations. I'll give you one example in particular. At the time was a patrol field training officer with a fairly new recruit working the 1st watch when we found a burglar breaking into a grocery store.
He escaped temporarily and when my trainee and I separated in search of him, I observed that my trainee had found him approximately 30-40yards from me. The suspect made movements toward the officer and reached toward his back pocket as if to possibly remove a weapon. I was ready with my pistol but because the two were so close together, I was reluctant to fire in fear of hitting my rookie who was steadily back stepping trying to keep some distance between them. I fired a warning shot and the suspect immediately turned and ran away with the two of us in pursuit. Never say never to me when a life is at stake. Gut instincts about the "whole" situation, training and experience the better. As a general rule however, I agree with your advice. But then again, you were not there and he was and probable not well trained.